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Photo Tour of Highgate Cemetery London

Highgate Cemetery in north London was one of these places that I’d been meaning to visit for decades. One of the reasons I selected the Ramada Hotel Finchley for my London accommodation was that it was bus ride from the hotel to the cemetery.

I’d looked at the Highgate Cemetery to check opening hours before I visited. I was rather annoyed that there was a £4 entry fee, as it’s free to enter most cemeteries in the UK. Evidently the fee is charged as Highgate Cemetery used to be owned by a private company. When it folded in the 1970s, the cemetery fell into disrepair, until it was taken over by the Friends of Highgate Cemetery, a registered charity.

The most well-known grave in Highgate Cemetery is that of Karl Marx.

However for me the most striking gravestone was the one below, which looks like a woman clutching a body.

Despair was the sentiment which came to mind when looking at the sculpture of the man with his head resting on a stone

The full size piano sculpture was pretty impressive.

I liked the gravestone sculpture below of a young woman holding flowers; the folds in her dress made it look as though she were standing in a breeze.

The floral engraving on the cross of the gravestone below are beautiful.

There were plenty of gravestone sculptures of angels in Highgate Cemetery,

At least the £4 entry fee contributed to the upkeep of the pristine toilets.

I have to say that I was slightly disappointed by Highgate Cemetery. It’s described as “one of England’s greatest treasures with some of the finest funerary architecture in the country”. I’ve visited other cemeteries, such as the Old Town Cemetery in Stirling and the Howff Cemetery in Dundee, which I found more interesting and were free to enter.

About Karen Bryan

Hello, I'm Karen Bryan, I created Europe a la Carte in 2002 to highlight the best places to visit in Europe with travel tips, photos and no fluff reviews.
I’m also an artist; my artworks are often inspired by my travels